I’m happy to have been invited to judge Better Photography’s Wedding Photographer of the Year awards, the premier wedding photography awards in India. There were some really great entries this year and some top wedding photographers took part. Congratulations to all the winners.

My plan was simple and cunning in it’s minimalism. I was going to consume copious amounts of caffeine between sunset and the time I started the three hour journey back home from Chrissiesmeer.

I may have executed the plan a little too well, because now it’s four in the morning and I’m still wired to the gills from all the coffee. I have resigned myself to not sleeping tonight. Instead I am backing up and editing the photos.

Some killer bee images from what I like to call the blue hour. That’s the hour after the golden hour that wedding photographers rave about. I like the blue hour. The light is soft, even and very very moody. It’s also a pain to photograph if you aren’t comfortable with low light situations.

an ad just popped up on my screen for green tea latte which apparently increases concentration – the last thing I need now is more ‘concentration’

BTW in case you were wondering, yes, like most of my clients Katie did warn me that she always looks terrible in photos. I thought she looked incredible. Leon who has the deadliest accent I’ve ever heard was also looking pretty sharp.

We’re finally up and running on instagram – and the response has been amazing. I may have gotten a bit caught up in composing for a square format, it reminds me of when I used to shoot a Mamiya 645. Stop by and have a look.

So a new venue has popped up around the corner from our studio in Lanseria – it’s White Light and it’s from The Forum company. I’m always excited to go to new venues, you may need to get there a bit early to have a quick scout but there are always amazing opportunities to shoot images that have never been done before. White Light is pretty incredible all beautiful and evenly lit structures that give it a Great Gatsby kind of feel. A beautiful outdoor tent for dancing, and just a really nice palette of greens and whites to work with. It didn’t hurt that Candice and Warren and their friends really know how to party.

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time you probably know that I love shooting in Joburg. Not just the hip areas like Braamfontein and Maboneng, but Newtown, the Nelson Mandela Bridge, the old CBD around Fox Street, the old Chinatown. There is just so much history and authenticity in those places. I love the way that Joburg is a million things to a million people but it’s always Johannesburg, whether you’re in Bree Street next to that guy that sells dentures on the side of the road, or on top of Randlords looking down on a million twinkling lights.

So when Carla called up and said they were having their wedding at The Living Room I was pretty excited. The area around Arts on Main and Maboneng is just too easy to photograph and they seemed like the most relaxed couple. Just at ease with being themselves and excited to be getting married. Carla’s only request was a photo with the Maboneng sign in the background, and I did put old Daniel on the spot at one point and asked him to write on the wall what he wanted to do before he died. I thought he did pretty well …

As much as I love Joburg, it’s nice to occasionally just get out into the bush. So I packed a small bag and boarded a very small plane to Skukuza, out there by the Kruger Park, near Sabi Sabi. Fifty minutes later I was in the tranquil space that is Lion Sands Tinga Lodge, for Michael and Alicia’s very cool, out in the bush with the wild animals, wedding. The kind of place where when the lions roar at night they aren’t in the lion park, and in the early morning you can spot a leopard stalking some buck. Incredible and awesome and Michael and Alicia were the two nicest people to hang out with. I could shoot a few more of these 🙂

The clients I get pretty much always, well let’s say 99% of the time, tell me that they hate being photographed and that they always look terrible in photos. When I reply that a pro will always make them look good, I often get told that they were a bridesmaid at a wedding and they still looked terrible.

My reply is always pretty much the same. The photographer was probably trying too hard. Trying to make them fit into some idea that the photographer has of what the perfect photo is. My approach is to photograph you, not to try fit you into some kind of template of what a bride should look like in wedding photos. The photos may not be perfect according to some cheesy wedding magazine standard of what a wedding photo should look like, but then I never really liked ‘wedding photography’ as a genre.

So when Amira told me that she hated being photographed, I smiled. I knew she was going to look incredible in her photos.

There’s this one image in this album across a whole page, so pretty much A3, of Tim and Zimbini leaving in their vintage car and people cramming trying to get photos through the windows which for me is an iconic South African wedding photo. You really have to see it printed big to appreciate the moment.

Forum Homini is one of those secret Joburg places that not many people know about. Kind of an eco-hotel with some amazing architecture and food. There’s a hippo around the corner, yep, I said a hippo. Zebras running around the place and some of the most photogenic spots in all of Johannesburg.

As I was driving in I spotted it, a dried out wetland. Kind of a perfect circle of cracked dried out mud. I had to try sell it as a photoshoot location. Anke was keen, Henna lifted her up and off we went. It was actually dry and hard enough to walk on. The photos, well, you can judge for yourself but I think they’re kindda killer bee.